Disabled

In Monday's coverage of state budget cuts, it was mentioned that the Agency for Persons with Disabilities (APD) has proposed having private support coordinators become state employees in order to save $3.8 million dollars. On the surface this looks like a wise move, but in reality there are many problems with this proposal. Private support coordinators were originally put in place to ensure that the disabled had an advocate. Under the present system, the disabled have the ability to choose a support coordinator, which puts pressure on the coordinator to do a good job. If these services are given back to the state, the freedom to choose and the pressure on the support coordinators to do a good job will be gone.

LEESBURG - Even during his time off, Mark Swain thinks about work. Swain is the chief executive officer of the Arc Sunrise of Central Florida, a program for developmentally delayed people, where he worked for the last six years. "This job is very consuming. I'm always thinking about how things can be changed, be improved," said Swain, 49. The annual budget is $4.4 million with the bulk of it coming from the Medicaid, as well as various local grants from charitable trusts totaling about $150,000.

After reading a recent article about the shortcomings of the Lynx A+ program, I was surprised by the response of the operations manager for United Transportation (a vendor that provides vans used in the Lynx program). In the Sunday article in the Orange section, Robert Buckner said of disabled rider Kalyani Annamraju, "I wish she had other battles. She's on her own with this one here." In lieu of past complaints and newspaper articles about the poor service this program provides, Buckner's response seems condescending and short-sighted.

In public school, Jen Goodwin's 11-year-old son, who has Asperger's syndrome, made solid academic gains but struggled with a "loud and overwhelming" campus. In a smaller private school, the boy thrived socially but started to lose ground academically. His parents decided last year that the boy - who has other medical problems, too - would do best at home, working with private tutors and therapists. It's worked but been costly, at $50 or more an hour for therapy. So Goodwin was thrilled to learn Florida had created a special scholarship to provide families like hers with cash to cover those costs.

The year 1951 changed my life. I was 16 and had been disabled since birth. My past had not been easy or pleasant. That year I was chosen to be the national poster child for a charitable organization.Through personal appearances and speeches, my goal as poster child was to educate society about the condition I would carry the rest of my life - a condition shared by so many other handicapped children and adults.My audiences included parents, teachers, medical specialists, politicians, civic leaders, heads of state and President Harry Truman and his wife.

PARIS -- France's highest court Friday confirmed the principle that children are entitled to compensation if they are born mentally disabled because doctors failed to detect warning signs during pregnancy and give their mothers a chance to have abortions. An advocacy group for the disabled immediately attacked the Court of Cassation's decision as discriminatory. The issue has touched off a maelstrom of debate in France, with some people saying the court has questioned disabled children's right to be born.

KUDOS TO Don Boyett for his column on the Cerebral Palsy Clinic and the children who are helped by it. Along with my praise, however, I must express some disappointment that he did not place some of that focus on adults with CP.There are many disabled people in Seminole County who have made great strides in business, the arts, community service and in the political process. Along with the stories on the physical aspects of being disabled, there should be more emphasis on the development of a movement.

WASHINGTON -- Parents could accept better jobs or raises without worrying about losing health-care coverage for their disabled or special-needs children under legislation introduced by a bipartisan group of lawmakers Thursday. The legislation would allow states to expand Medicaid coverage to children up to 18 with disabilities. Middle-income families buying into the program would pay premiums not exceeding 5 percent of their income.

The Department of Transportation said Friday that most public and private transportation systems will be required, regardless of whether they receive federal money, to meet the needs of disabled people.The regulations are designed to codify the transportation sector's obligations under the Americans with Disabilities Act.When the requirements are fully implemented ''it will be easier for people with disabilities to use public transportation to get to schools and jobs, as well as social, recreational and cultural activities,'' Secretary of Transportation Samuel K. Skinner said.

CLERMONT -- A county grant to Community Care Health Services means disabled adults with limited incomes will again be able to receive financial help to attend the center's daily health and activity program. The Lake County Commission has given the Careship Program the financial boost and more money is expected. Along with extending care to program participants, the money will pay for field trips to places such as the Citrus Tower and Lake Minneola. For more information about the adult day-care program, call 352-394-2990.

A 67-year-old Lakeland man was arrested on accusations that he stalked a disabled woman at a Walmart and kissed her without permission, according to Winter Haven police. Mario Augusto Medina was charged with aggravated stalking and abuse of a disabled adult for a June 2 incident at Walmart, 7450 Cypress Gardens Boulevard S.E. According to police, Medina followed a 58-year-old woman who used a motorized cart because of health issues in the store over a two-hour period. He stood in an adjacent aisle where he peered through peg holes to look at the victim.

Lindsay Graham grew up in the same church attended by her parents and grandparents, and she expected the same would be true for her children. That changed when her son, J.D., was diagnosed with autism at age 2. There were outbursts and tantrums, calls in the middle of the church service from the Sunday-school teacher that J.D. was being disruptive. There were disapproving looks from other members of the congregation. Even if they didn't say it, Graham knew what they were thinking: Can't you keep your child under control?

An Edgewater motorist was killed Saturday when a sport utility vehicle crashed into her SUV, which had broken down on International Speedway Boulevard east of DeLand, the Florida Highway Patrol said. Kathy Hayes, 59, had stepped outside her 2009 Hyundai SUV on the westbound side of the street near Clark Bay Road about 10 a.m. when a 2004 Ford SUV driven by Erica Johnson, 33, of Ormond Beach hit the rear of Hayes' vehicle, troopers said. Hayes was standing in front of her vehicle when the impact of the collision pushed it into her, killing her, investigators said.

Roughly $20,000 worth of iPads and other electronics were stolen during a series of burglaries this week at a Pine Hills charter school, authorities reported. The initial burglary at the UCP Pine Hills Charter School was discovered Monday morning when an employee arrived for work, said Ilene Wilkins, president of the nonprofit UCP of Central Florida. Burglars returned on two other instances throughout the week, taking all of the school's electronic devices. UCP Pine Hills Charter School serves children with and without disabilities in pre-kindergarten through first grade.

Gatorland is planning a zip line that will allow visitors with lower-body disabilities to soar above its cold-blooded residents. The new zip line will debut this fall, said Mark McHugh, president of the longtime South Orange Blossom Trail attraction. He thinks it will be the first such zip line in the world. Wheelchair-bound customers will be able to go up the ramp of an existing tower and be transferred into a specialized harness attached to the zip line. "It shoots across the alligator breeding marsh and actually goes under one of our [existing]

A mentally disabled 29-year-old man who had been missing since just after midnight Tuesday was found safe this afternoon, Orladno police announced. Erving Antonio Rivera Morales was last seen at his home on Curry Ford Road. According to his grandmother, Rivera Morales has the mental capacity of an 8-year-old child. Police did not say where the man was found. dstennett@tribune.com or 407-420-5447

In life there are two categories in regard to functionality: enablers and disablers. This is especially true for the disabled population. Access Lynx should be an enabler. For my $2 (proposed to be $5) a trip for my disabled daughter, this is what I have come to expect: A pickup waiting time that varies from 30 minutes to three hours-plus. A constant stream of new drivers who are not given information on my location. Occasional damage to the wheelchair. Air conditioning and heating that are often inadequate or nonfunctional.

Volunteers, dedicated to helping wounded soldiers, will break ground today in Oakland for a new home for an Apopka Marine critically wounded in 2011 when a roadside bomb exploded near him in Afghanistan. Sgt. Stephen Tovet lost his left leg and part of his hand in the blast. He and his wife Krystina, high school sweethearts at Apopka High, were chosen to be the beneficiaries of the sixth project organized and funded by Home At Last. Home At Last is an organization associated with the home-building charity, West Orange Habitat for Humanity.

A disabled vehicle on eastbound State Road 408 is slowing traffic right now. The disabled vehicle is at East 10B (Orange Avenue). The right lane is blocked. Check back regularly for traffic updates. twalden@tribune.com , or 407-420-5620